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'My brain made me do it' – a legitimate defence?

Neuroscience is becoming increasingly relevant to the law. Can brain scans ever prove whether you are guilty or innocent?

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14 December 2011

By Nicholas Mackintosh

NEUROSCIENTISTS seek to understand how the brain underpins our behaviour, thoughts and feelings. Given that the law is also concerned with human behaviour, albeit for quite different reasons, it is hardly surprising that remarkable advances in our understanding of the brain have led many to believe that neuroscience is becoming increasingly relevant to the law.

In the US, a number of universities teach courses on the interface between neuroscience and the law, and the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation has invested several million dollars to fund research in this area. In the UK, the Royal Society has just published …